Conventionally, digital content is distributed using optical media (e.g., compact discs, digital video discs, etc.). However, such optical media can only be accessed by specific devices with suitable disc drives, which are increasingly absent from consumer electronic devices, limiting the ability of content providers to distribute media to consumers in physical form.
While portable hard drives exist, such technology is generally only compatible with a limited number of electronic devices. Further, while Internet delivery of media has been used in some cases, this mode of delivery often sacrifices quality and security or requires Internet connectivity that is not present in all electronic devices.
Different types of file formats are used for different types of media and electronic devices can typically only access limited subsets of these file formats. As the numbers and types of file formats increase, along with different file structures used to execute the different file formats, storage of files on media that can interact with multiple different file structures becomes increasingly difficult. Different media storage devices are formatted to different file structures to allow for interactions with different devices. This creates difficulties in the portability and management of the different media devices. In particular, media devices formatted to work with one device (such as a computer) are often incompatible with other devices (such as a game system or “smart” television). Additionally, often compatibility issues exist between media devices of a single type (such as a computer running a Windows operating system and a computer running a Macintosh operating system).
As the size of media storage unit has increased, the types and sizes of files stored in the memory of a media storage device has grown. Video and audio files typically have a large size and have not historically been stored on media storage devices due to their size. With the increase in storage capacity of media storage devices, video and audio files can now be stored on portable media storage devices. However, as many different devices execute video and audio files, a need exists for a single media storage unit capable of interacting with a number of different external devices.